Thursday, October 09, 2008

Going, going...

When Ben was born, on October 15th, 1995, I cut out the newspaper headline. To be truthful, I came home ten days later to a pile of newspapers on my sidewalk. Still, I cut out the headline.

Dow hits 6,000.

It was historic. Now I'm thinking, on October 15th 2008, I may have the same headline to cut out.

What does it mean? For one, people who were planning on retiring in the near future can forget about it. It means that everyone in this country is scared. The "bailout" is nothing more than the government making promises to money they don't have.

No one believes them.

I'm scared. I know all of this will come back, and there will be money to be made, again. In the meantime, who will lose? How many people will be out of work? How can we afford social programs? As the economy tanks, historically crime has gone up. Drug addition rises. Domestic violence escalates.

Families with children become homeless, creating yet another generation of kids locked out of the American dream.

Will we still have a middle class when this is over? Or will we become a society of have and have nots, clearly divided.

What will happen to public schools? Where will they get the money to pay teachers, provide resources? How can we ever have a democracy without excellent public education?

Who will pay the bills?

McCain stumbled today and called everyone "my fellow prisoners..." The wear and tear of a long campaign has proven he is incapable of being the president. Let's be serious- these next few years will require some efforts not seen since the 1930's.

We are prisoners, in many respects. I won't leave this country. It's my country. I love being here. I believe in the possibility of a fair America. And yet, I'm watching the Dow go down down down and what it means as a symbol for so many people makes me anxious.

Sad.

What kind of world are we leaving our kids?

Have we simply used everything up? Going, going...

Gone.

Let me be clear, the Dow average is not the end all and be all but it is a clear sign we all react to. It is an indicator of where we are going, economically. Just a sign post.